New House

Well, one night way back in February, Ryan was looking on Redfin for fun.  He came across a house for sale in our old neighborhood that was (gasp) in our price range.  He read me the description which included such terms as "secluded", "three-bedroom", and "great for kids or pets".  We decided it was too good to be true, so we went by the next day and were totally blown away.  We're suckers for woodsy, and this was about as woodsy as they come.  So . . we called a realtor, did a walk-through, and made an offer all within the space of a few days.  Here are some pictures Ryan took the evening after we closed (which was in Mid-March.)
     

Front Door and Side Yard.  Note the kids and I up on the hill.

Yep.  There we are.

Slimy Drainage Ditch/Path to the Hill

Back side of house.  There are about 14 fruit trees on the property!

Kids playing on the Deadly Cliff.

Me by the fence.  It's supposed to keep the kids off the Deadly Cliff.

Equally Deadly Swimming Pool.

Yeah, I was getting tired of holding Evan.  We installed a pool fence ASAP.

Back Yard (Ryan considers it the Front Yard - whatever.)

This house has TONS of windows/light.  That's a big deal for me.

View of the Hill.

Like I said, I was getting tired of holding Evan (and so was he.)

An owl lives in this crazy-tall tree.  How cool is that?

View from the front gate.  That open door leads into the garage.

In case you're concerned, the cliff by the fruit trees isn't really that bad.  At any rate, we're going to fence the whole back part of the property so the dogs can run back there, which should also keep kids out of trouble.
      
Anyway, everything happened super fast.  We weren't planning on looking to buy until this summer.  I had serious cold feet for awhile, since buying a house in Los Angeles is a bit more of an investment than buying one in Salt Lake.  We're SO happy with it now, though.  Sure, it's falling apart in places, and the ivy outside is infested with rats, but that's the price you pay for owls, I guess.